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He makes a beeline toward me, and I hop back on top of the bed and clamber over to the other side, switching positions with him. I should have grabbed his phone but then I’d be asking for a physical chase. I need my phone and the door.
But we both make it back to the door at the same time. He blocks my way out and answers the call that’s still buzzing.
“Yeah,” he says. I watch his eyes for a sign of what the phone call might be about. I doubt I’ll catch a glimpse of the ‘doe-eyed-look’ that would brand any liar. “What are you talking about? That’s not possible.” Liam spins around, clutching at the back of his red neck. “No. No, Lara! Because I wasn’t home last night. That’s why. Why would I do that? What kind of monster do you think I am? Christ. This is low, even for you. Is this your get out of jail free card? I should have figured that would be your move. You’ve already taken everything else. You might as well steal my freedom too, right? Yeah, well screw you!” Liam throws his phone to the ground and the screen shatters, not enough to prevent him from using the phone again, but it’ll be a pain.
I don’t even know what to say after that phone call. I don’t even know what happened, only that it was Lara on the other end. “Let me out of my room,” I bark at him. “Willa, help me!” No one is in that deep of a sleep to not have heard this commotion by now.
“No, no,” Liam says, breathing heavily as he pins the palm of his hand to the door. “I’m not going to hurt you. I didn’t attack you either. It’s her. She’s out of her mind.”
“Who? Lara?” I question, taking a hesitant step backward again, away from the door, where I need to be.
“You have no idea,” he says with a choke as he grits his teeth. His cheeks inflame and he clenches his hands by his sides. “The police found Fallon at my apartment.”
“Wait…what?” I gasp and press my hand to my chest. “You—you did this?”
“No. What? Why would I take my own niece?” he shouts at me like I’m the first to accuse him.
“I don’t know! Why would you act like you’re someone else and trap me like this? This is not the behavior of a sane person, so why wouldn’t someone assume you had something to do with your missing niece?” Adrenaline is pulsating through my words, and I hope it’s enough to get me away from him in one piece.
Liam grasps at chunks of his hair, ignoring me. “Shit. She’s going to kill that poor baby.”
“Who? Lara or Madden?”
“I don’t even know,” he says, his eyes bugging out and centered by a web of red veins.
“Tell me why you were at the first-aid course,” I ask, demanding an answer. “That wasn’t a coincidence.”
“Family is family. My sister needed help, and I helped her. But I didn’t see the rest coming,” he says.
“The rest of what?”
“Becoming weak around you. I should have just let you be that night, but I didn’t because?—”
“Because what?” I demand.
Liam’s expression changes and I swear it’s the doe-eyed look I’m noticing. “It’s human instinct to want what we should stay away from, right?”
Now I can forever question whether that too is a lie or not.
The internal question makes my blood boil. “Wait…” I snap at him. “You think you were supposed to stay away fromme? Should I remind you of what your family did to mine? Taking everything from us for the sake of a lawsuit because the insurance wasn’t enough. Money doesn’t bring people back from the dead.” I regret my words the second they slip out of my mouth. Despite everything, his sister, Libby, died in that fire and rumor had it that he took it the hardest. Now I’m wondering how hard…
He takes a minute, breathing sharply in and out of his nose. The veins on his temples pulsate, a sign of rising blood pressure. “Don’t talk about my family. They’re all gone except for Lara. I’m not defending any action here, but with all due respect, I was told to stay away from you because my dad is the one who found the newspaper article. We did feel sorry for you until that night. But before you go ahead and start making more assumptions, it wasn’t me who spread that story around. It was Lara.”
“Of course, it was Lara. Lara, who is swimming in riches thanks to the jackpot she inherited.”
“The words keep flying out of your mouth, Haley, but have you stopped to think about the way I’m living in comparison to her?”
“I don’t know how you’re living. I don’t know who you are, obviously. You’ve been conning me this whole time and now I’m supposed to feel sorry for you? I can’t believe a word you’ve said.”
“You never could believe anyone. That’s half your problem.” Liam opens the bedroom door and storms out. “Don’t follow me. The cops are on the hunt and it’s me they want, not you.”
When the front door closes, I rush out there to twist the deadbolt and attach the chain link, not that the flimsy metal makes me feel any safer right now.
Willa’s door was closed when I ran by, but I turn back to knock, wondering how she didn’t hear what was happening in my bedroom.
She doesn’t respond so I knock harder. “Willa, are you in there?”
Again, there’s no response and my heart pounds, wondering where she is, knowing she was home last night. I try to open the door, but it’s locked.
